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AN 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

OF 

James H. Berry 



WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST 

OF HIS FAMILY A FEW 

MONTHS BEFORE 

HIS DEATH 



PEMOCRAT PRINT. aENTONVILLE, AH 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



I was born on a farm in 
Jackson county, Alabama, on 
May 15th, 1841. My father 
was James M. Berry and my 
mother was Isabelle Jane Orr. 
In 1848, when I was seven and 
a half years old, I moved with 
my father's family to Carroll- 
ton, Carroll county, Arkansas. 

There were ten children of 
us who lived to be grown: 
Granville, the oldest; Mary, 
who married Col. Sam W.Peel; 
Fannie, who married Rufus 
Polk; Dick; and then I came 
next; then Arkansas, called 
"Canty," who married Captain 
Arch McKennon; Willie, who 
was killed during the war; 
Sophronia, who married An- 
drew Forrest: Albert; Emma, 
the youngest, who married Dr. 
A. M. McKennon. They are 
all dead except Sophronia For- 
]'est and myself. 

I was raised on a small farm 
adjoining the village of Car- 
rollton. My father for a part 
of the time sold goods in the 
town and I attended the vil- 



lage school some time during 
the winter and learned to read 
and write a little, and some- 
thing of arithmetic. When I 
was 17 years old my father 
sent me to the Berry ville Acad- 
emy, IS miles from our home, 
which was the best school in 
that locality, and I attended 
that school for 10 months. 

In 1860 my mother died af- 
ter a long illness, and the ex- 
penses attending her sickness 
iforced my father to sell our 
home, and I was taken from 
school and sent to Yellville, 
Arkansas, to clerk in the store 
of James H. Berry, who was a 
cousin of my father. I re- 
mained there until the war be- 
gan, when I came back to our 
old home in Carrollton and 
joined the Confederate Army 
on the 19th of September, 
1861. On the same day that I 
enlisted I was elected Second 
Lieutennt in what was after- 
wards Company E, Sixteenth 
Arkansas Infantry. 

We went into winter quar- 
ters that winter atElm Springs 
Arkansas, and remained there 
until February, 1862, when 
we were sent to meet General 



Price, who was retreating from 
Missouri. He continued to re- 
treat to the Boston Mountains 
in Arkansas, and early in 
March, 1862, General VanDorn 
took command and we went 
from there to Pea Ridge, Ar- 
kansas, where on the 7th and 
8th of March we fought the 
battle called by the Union sol- 
diers "Pea Ridge" and 
called "Elk Horn" by the Con- 
federates. We were defeated, 
and retreated from Pea Ridge 
to the Arkansas River, and 
from there we went by way of 
Memphis to Corinth, Mississip- 
pi, where we joined General 
Beauregard's army on about 
April 15th, 1862. A tew days 
afterwards my regiment, be- 
ing on outpost duty, became 
engaged and we lost 17 killed 
and wounded. The last of May 
General Beauregard evacuat- 
ed Corinth and moved to Tupe- 
lo, Mississippi, and we remain- 
ed at Tupelo and Satillo until 
September, when w^e went to 
luka, Mississippi. 

On the 19th of September, 
1862, one year from the day 
when I enlisted we fought the 
fight at luka. We went from 



6 



luka and joined a portion of 
the army under VanDorn at 
Holly Springs, Mississippi, and 
on the 3rd and 4th of October, 
1862, we fought the battle of 
Corinth, Mississippi. General 
VanDorn commanded the Con- 
federate forces and General 
Rosecrans the Union forces. 
We attacked their breast- 
works in a terrible engage- 
ment and the brigade to which 
I belonged, consisting of 
about 1500 or 1600 men, lost 
402 men in less than 30 min- 
utes. I was badly wounded, 
resulting in the loss of my 
right leg. I fell into the hands 
of the Federal Army and was 
sent to the hospital at luka, 
Mississippi. I remained in the 
hospital there for two months 
and was then taken to Rienzi, 
Mississippi, by a relative of 
mine — my father's aunt. I 
remained there for several 
months and it v/as five months 
from the time I was wounded 
until I joined my regiment at 
Port Hudson, Louisiana. 

While I was at a private 
house some 18 miles from Port 
Hudson, where I went to await 
for my brother-in-law, Lieut. 



McKeimoii, to try to get a fur- 
lough to take me home, Port 
Hudson became besieged by 
General Banks, leaving me on 
the outside. 1 remained there 
during the entire siege of 49 
days. My younger brother, 
Willie, was at Port Hudson at 
the time, although he had 
been discharged from the ar- 
my a few days before because 
he haji served out the twelve 
months for which he had en- 
listed and, not being 18 years 
old, was not subject to military 
duty under the conscript law. 
When Banks surrounded the 
place he was on the inside of 
Port Hudson and, although 
not required to do so, he took 
his gun and went back into the 
Company. 

When Port Hudson surren- 
dered, all the privates, my 
brother amongst them, were 
paroled. Lieut. McKennon, 
with the other officers, was 
taken to Johnson Island, Ohio. 
Two of the officers of my regi- 
ment, Capt. Poynor of my own 
Compan3^ and Lieut. Bailey of 
Company D, made their escape 
from Port Hudson after the 
surrender, and they came to 



8 



the house where I was staying. 
My brother came with them 
and all of us together made 
our way back to Arkansas, 
crossing the Mississippi River 
in skiffs and traveling in va- 
rious ways. Part of the time 
I rode a mule while they 
walked and we finally reached 
Little Rock, Arkansas. Capt. 
Poynor and Lieut. Bailey went 
from Little Rock across the 
mountain on foot to our old 
home in Carroll county, and 
my brother and I took a stage 
and came to Ozark, Arkansas, 
where my sister and father 
lived. We reached there in 
August, 1863, and stayed 
there for some two months, 
and from there I went back to 
our old home in Carroll coun- 
ty, staying with my sister, Mrs. 
Sam W. Peel, who was still liv- 
ing there. The country was in 
a very disturbed condition. 
There were quite a number of 
Confederate soldiers, some of 
them refugees from Pvlissouri 
and some who had been pa- 
roled from the army at Port 
Hudson and at Vicksburg. 
Many of them were what were 
called "Independent Compa- 



nies,"but no regular organized 
army was in the immediate 
section. The Federal soldiers 
came in from time to time and 
more or less fighting and skir- 
mishing and killing was going 
on in the county. 

I remained there as long as 
I dared, and then, with my sis- 
ter, the v/ife of Lieut. McKen- 
ncn, crossed the mountain and 
went back to Ozark. While I 
was at Ozark the Fourteenth 
Kansas Cavalry, U. S.A., under 
Col. Brown, occupied the place. 
He required all the old men 
left at home to take the oath 
of allegiance to the Govern- 
ment, and sent for me and 
asked me to take the oath. I 
told him that I did not desire 
to take the oath of allegiance; 
that I was a Lieutenant in the 
Confederate Army; that I was 
a prisoner and that he had the 
right to send me to prison if he 
desired to do so, but that he 
had no right to require me to 
take the oath. He said that 
he did not wish to send a man. 
to prison who had but one leg 
and was on crutches, but that 
he was under no obligations to 
nrotect me from the soldiers 



10 



unless I did take the oath. I 
told him that I did not think 
the soldiers would hurt me 
and that I was not willing to 
take it. He told me very curt- 
ly that I could retire. A few 
days after this he moved his 
regiment to Clarksville, Ar- 
kansas, 25 miles away, expect- 
ing to return, and the day the 
Federals left, Capt. McDonald 
of the Confederate Army, with 
some other Confederates, came 
into town. 

McDonald told me that he 
and some 30 or 40 others were 
going south the next morning 
and that if I could get across 
the river that night and join 
them at daylight that he had 
an extra pony which I could 
ride and could go south with 
them. I managed to get an 
old man at 1 o'clock that night 
to set me across the river in a 
skiff and joined the soldiers 
on the other side and went 
with them to Monticello, Ar- 
kansas, where my old regiment 
was camped, reaching there in 
the fall of 1864. I remained 
at Monticello until February, 
1865, and went from there to 
Shreveport, Louisiana, and 



11 



then obtained a furlough from 
General Kirby Smith in person 
for 90 days. 

I went from there to Texas 
and stayed with relatves in 
Tarrant and Ellis counties un- 
til the first of May, when the 
Confederate Army west of the 
Mississippi disbanded. I was 
with General Cabell's com- 
mand at Corsicana when the 
soldiers broke up and went to 
their homes. I gave my watch, 
which my father had given me 
before the war, for a horse 
and rode back to Ozark, reach- 
ing there about the 10th of 
June, 1865. I stayed with my 
sister and soon after began 
teaching a school, for three 
months, of some 30 children. 

I had gotten acquainted, 
while at Ozark during the war, 
with Lizzie Quaile, whose 
father and mother lived there. 
Her father was still in Texas 
when I reached Ozark and did 
not get back until about Sep- 
tember 1st. In the meantime 
I had seen her almost every 
day and we had promised each 
other that sometime in the fu- 
ture we would be married. 
When her father came home 



12 



and learned of the situation, he 
informed her that he seriously 
objected to her marrying me, 
and that he proposed to send 
her off to Kentucky to school. 
She told me about it and I 
went and talked to him. He 
told me that he could not con- 
sent to the marriage; that I 
had no way to make a living; 
that he knew nothing against 
me, but that he was unwilling 
for his daughter to marry me 
because I had no means of sup- 
port and no prospects. I told 
him that I was willing to wait 
a reasonable length of time, 
but that I would like for him 
to say that, if I could get 
along and make a living 
he would consent. He said 
there was no use in holding 
out hope which in all probabil- 
ity could not be realized, and 
that we would have to give it 
up, and that he was going to 
send her to Kentucky to 
school. He then said he would 
like to know what course I 
proposed to pursue in regard 
to it. I told him that I had 
never asked her to marry me 
against his wishes, and that I 
did not know whether or not 



i; 



she would do so, but that she 
had told me that she did not 
wish to go to Kentucky to 
school, and that, rather than 
have her sent away against 
her wishes, I would marry her 
if I could. He then said the 
only unkind words to me that 
he ever did say, and that was 
that I had better be careful. 
This was on Monday, and on 
Tuesday night at my aunt's 
house we were married. We 
stayed with my sister for a 
few weeks and then went to 
Carrollton. I will say here 
that it was seventeen years 
from the time we married be- 
fore Mr. Quaile and I spoke to 
each other. In 1882, the day 
after I was nominated for gov- 
ernor, I came from Little 
Rock to Ozark with Henry 
Carter, who had married my 
wife's sister, and Gen. H. B, 
Armistead, a prominent man 
from Franklin county , and 
they urged me very earnestly 
that when we stopped off at 
Ozark that I should go to Mr. 
Quaile and offer him my hand. 
I told them tliat I was afraid 
he would not accept it, and 
they both said they were as- 



14 



sured that he would do so. I 
thought the matter over and 
concluded that the time had 
come when I could go to him 
and that he could not very 
well come to me without hav- 
ing his motives misconstrued. 
In companj'^ with Henry Car- 
ter, I walked over to his house, 
and when he came out on the 
front porch I spoke to him and 
offered him my hand. He took 
my hand and asked me to 
walk into the house. I went 
in and we began to talk about 
the convention and the cotton 
crop, and never from that time 
until his death was the mar- 
riage mentioned between us. 
I want to say here that Mr. 
Quaile was a man of the very 
highest character, a splendid 
man in every way and respect- 
ed wherever he was known. 
He was devoted to his family, 
and I never blamed him for 
objecting to the marriage. It 
was the most natural thing in 
the world that he should ob- 
ject, as I had absolutely noth- 
ing, not even a law license, and 
was on crutches. When I had 
daughters of my own I real- 
ized that, under the same con- 



15 



ditions I Avould have done as 
he did. 

After going back to Carroll- 
ton we lived for a time in a 
small house, about eight feet 
square, which had been built 
before the war for a milk 
house over the well. We ate 
with Col. Peel's family in a log 
liouse that he had built after 
the war, his home having been 
burned. 

While I was teaching school 
at Ozark I had borrowed a law 
book wherever I could find one 
and was reading law, and I 
continued to read after I went 
back to Carrollton. On the ^ 
first Monday in August, 1886,-^^^ 
I was elected to the Legisla- 
ture from Carroll county, be- 
ing the youngest man in the 
Legislature. I was opposed in 
the race by four or five older 
men, but as two were to be 
elected, I was chosen as one of 
them. On my way to Little 
Rock I stopped over for a day 
in Ozark and there secured my 
license to practice law. The 
session of the Legislature was 
a long one and the pay was six 
dollars a day, and that, togeth- 
er with the mileage, enabled 



16 



me to save about three hun- 
dred dollars during the ses- 
sion. I went back to Carroll- 
ton after the adjournment and 
built a one-room log cabin, 
and we lived in that for tAvo 
years. I went to work at such 
practice as I could get before 
the justice of the peace and 
the county court and occasion- 
ally in the circuit court. I 
also assisted the clerk of the 
court in his office at different 
times and made some money 
in that way. 

In December, 186 9, I sold 
my property at Carrollton and 
that, together with the money 
I had saved, enabled me to 
build a house at Bentonville, 
Ark., where we moved and 
where I have since lived. For 
a time after moving to Benton- 
ville I practiced law in part- 
nership with Col. S. W. Peel. 
In September, 1872, I was 
elected to the Legislature 
from Benton county. During 
the term for which I was elect- 
ed, in May, 187 4, what was 
known as the Brooks-Baxter 
war took place over the gov- 
ernorship of Arkansas and 
Governor Baxter called an ex- 



17 



traordinary session of the Leg- 
islature, of which I was a mem- 
ber. The original Legislature 
was composed of a majority of 
Republicans, but numerous va- 
cancies had occurred by rea- 
son of appointments to office, 
and these had been filled by 
Democrats. When the Legis- 
lature met, Mr. Tankersley, 
speaker of the House, who was 
a Republican, had joined the 
Brooks side in the war then 
going on and did not appear in 
answer to the call of Governor 
Baxter. The majority of those 
being Democrats, we proceed- 
ed to remove Mr. Tankersley 
from the speakership and I 
was elected Speaker in his 
place. This extraordinary ses- 
sion of the Legislature while 
I was Speaker called the con- 
stitutional convention and Mr. 
Garland was elected governor, 
and the Democrats have been 
in control of the state govern- 
ment from that time until the 
present day. 

When I returned to Benton- 
ville the last of May, 1874, I 
entered into a partnership to 
practice law with Judge R. W. 
Ellis. Judge Ellis was one of 



18 



the most lovable men I ever 
knew, always good natured 
and good humored, and dis- 
posed to depreciate' himself 
and to somewhat exaggerate 
the good qualities of his 
friends. We practiced to- 
gether continually, having a 
very good practice, for four 
years, and then in September, 
1878, I was elected judge of 
the circuit court. There were 
eight counties in the district 
and two terms of court each 
year in each county. Take it 
all in all, I think the four 
years that I served as judge of 
the court were the most pleas- 
ant of all my public life, and 
I frequently afterwards re- 
gretted that I had not re- 
mained on the bench. 

In June, 1882, I was nomi- 
nated by the Democratic State 
Convention for governor of the 
state, and in the September 
follov/ing was elected over Mr. 
Slack, the Republican nomi- 
nee, and Hon. R. K. Garland, 
who was a brother of United 
States Senator A. H. Garland, 
and nominee of the Greenback 
party, b}'' a majority of 38,000, 
and entered upon the duties of 



19 



the office in January, 1883. I 
served as governor from Janu- 
ary, 1883, to January, 1885. 

The term of United States 
Senator J. D. Walker expired 
on March 4th, 1885. I had re- 
fused to be a candidate for the 
second term as governor. I 
would have had no opposition 
if I had made the race, but tlie 
salary of the office was only 
$3,000 a year and the demands 
upon me were such that I sim- 
ply was unable financially to 
continue in the office of gov- 
ernor. I had not only spent 
the salary for the two years I 
was there, but had spent $800 
which I had saved out of my 
salary as judge, and had to 
borrow $200 to bring my fam- 
ily home from Little Rock. 

Hon. James K. Jones and 
Poindexter Dunn, both mem- 
bers of Congress, and myself 
were candidates for the United 
States Senate to succeed Mr. 
Walker. After the Legislature 
had balloted for more than 
two weeks and no one was 
elected, our votes being about 
equal, I became satisfied that 
1 could not be elected and so 
withdrew from the race while 



20 

38 of the members were still 
voting for me, and the next 
day Senator Jones was elected. 
A little more than two months 
afterwards, Mr. Garland, the 
other Senator from Arkansas, 
was appointed Attorney Gen- 
eral of the United States in 
Mr. Cleveland's cabinet, there- 
by leaving another vacancy in 
the Senate from Arkansas. 
Mr. Dunn, Major Horner, Joe 
House, Bob Newton and I 
were candidates for this va- 
cancy before the Legislature, 
and on the fourth or fifth bal- 
lot I was elected to succeed Mr. 
Garland, whose term still had 
four years to run. 

I was sworn into the Senate 
March 25th, 1885, and served 
there continuously for twenty- 
two years. At the expiration 
of the four years to which I 
was elected to succeed Mr. Gar- 
land I had no Democratic op- 
position for re-election and 
v\^as elected for six years in 
January, 188 9. At the expira- 
of that term, in January, 1895, 
I was again elected, over Gov, 
W. M. Fishback, and in Janu- 
ary, 1901, I was elected for 
another term, over Gov. Dan 



21 



W. Jones, and in January, 
1907, I was defeated by Jeff 
Davis. I had been elected four 
times by the Legislature, al- 
though the first time was for 
four years only. 

I remained out of office until 
the 17th of October, 1910, 
when, without sclicitation on 
my part, and without my hav- 
ing ever written anyone in re- 
gard to it, I was appointed by 
the Secretary of War, upon the 
personal request of President 
Taft, to succeed Gen. William 
C. Gates, of Alabama, who had 
died in September, and who 
had been appointed by Presi- 
dent Taft, when Secretary of 
War, as Commissioner to mark 
the graves of Confederate sol- 
diers who died in Northern 
prisons during the war and 
were buried near the places 
where they had died. The 
law authorizing these appoint- 
ments was passed in 1906. 
Col. Elliott, of South Carolina, 
had been first appointed, and 
at his death Gen. Gates was 
appointed to succeed him. 
Soon after my appointment 
the time for the completion of 
this work was extended until 



22 

the 23rd of December, 1912. 
The work is now almost com- 
pleted, and I expect to report 
to the Secretary of War very 
soon that the work is com- 
pleted and that my services 
are no longer needed, and I 
think there will be left of the 
original appropriation an un- 
expended balance of about 
$40,000. 

This is a brief statement of 
the principal events of my pub- 
lic and private life. 

There have been born to my 
wife and myself six children. 
My oldest daughter, Nellie 
Prank Berry, was married to 
William H. Hyatt. She died 
the 11th of June, 1900, leav- 
ing two children. Berry Hyatt 
and William H. Hyatt, Jr. At 
the time of her death they 
were eight and six years old 
respectively. We have raised 
them in our home, and the 
daughter. Berry, is now mar- 
ried to Mr. Henry Norton. 
Our daughter, Bert, married 
Mr. E. O. Lefors, and another 
daughter, Jennie, married 
Mr. A. P. Smartt. We had 
still another daughter, Bessie, 
v/ho lived to be six years old. 



23 

We have two sons, Elliott and 
Frederic, both of whom are 
living now. 

This sketch has been writ- 
ten because I thought it might 
some day be of interest to my 
children, and I want to say for 
their benefit that from the 
time I was elected to the Leg- 
islature in 1872 up to the pres- 
ent I have been almost contin- 
uously in public life, and dur- 
ing that time I have never 
practised law, never entered 
into any kind of speculation, 
never rode on a free pass or ac- 
cepted any other benefit, and 
have never made any money in 
any way except my salary and 
the mileage attached to the of- 
fice. 

I came out of the Senate 
about as poor as I went into it, 
and but for the fact that my 
wife had inherited some land 
and some other property from 
her father, we would have 
found much difficulty in pro- 
viding for the necessities of 
life. I had been so long out 
of the practice of the law that 
I could not hope to make any 
great amount of money at my 
profession and I was not physi- 



24 

cally able to do manual labor. 
I think it would not be egotism 
if I say that during all the 
years of my public life I have 
never intentionally wronged 
the public or wronged any in- 
dividual, and that I tried earn- 
estly to serve the people faith- 
fully in every way that I pos- 
sibly could, and I am deeply 
indebted to the thousands of 
friends all over the state of 
Arkansas who have stood by 
me in every contest I have ever 
made. I love the state and 
her people and it is a gratifica- 
tion to me to know that I 
have never done a deed that 
brought shame or dishonor on 
the people who so often hon- 
ored me. 



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